Bosherston

Promontory Fort

Bosherston (Promontory Fort) on The Modern Antiquarian, the UK & Ireland's most popular megalithic community website. 19 images, 1 fieldnote, 1 weblink, plus information on many more ancient sites nearby and across the UK & Ireland.

Images (click to view fullsize)

Fieldnotes

I first came across this hill fort whilst looking into the three devils quoits and Harold's stone, Google earth is a terrific tool for looking and snooping about the place before you get there. I noticed this hill fort near to the devils quoit, and clicked on a few pictures and saw all these lovely lily covered pools. I'm going there thought I, and with St Govan's chapel less than a mile away, the place was high on my list, in fact i've been to two out of three of my wish list places for the year, not much of a wish list you might think, a natty fort and a single standing stone, but I want my wishes to come true so Innisidgen and Barpa Langass are on a different list, if you get my meaning.

After a four and a half hour drive we saw our first sign pointing the way to Bosherston, Eric thought it was a funny place name, I didn't tell him about the villages of Twatt in Orkney and Shetland, Cocks in Cornwall or Bell End in Worcestershire.
As we entered the village of Bosherston (hee hee) the big old church stands out most, but just past it is the Pay and Display car park, 2 quid for two hours, if i'm late back then tough, i'm not paying a fiver for all day, i've got other places to see.
It was a bank holiday weekend and the car park was full, booo, lots of people, Booo! but it was a sunny day, not too hot, a nice cool breeze with my son by my side at a place on my wish list, no amount of people could spoil it.
We descended some steps as we enter the woods, and only a minute goes by before we get to the first foot bridge, many many lily pads cover the surface of the lake on both sides of the bridge, we slowly make our way across approaching a couple with biiig cameras, trained on, no way man is that an Otter, it is , It's a flippin Otter out hunting in daylight, i've only seen an Otter once before and that was in Tobermory. I feel very blessed and lucky, this is indeed a very beautiful place, I realise it's not exactly totally natural, but wow it's pretty, in the distance two swans are preening, a Heron is on a stealth hunting mission, fish are everywhere you look, dragonflies and Damsel flies, and an Otter, am I in Wales or the Okavango delta.

The first bridge is crossed and the path goes up, ahead I can see people on a high rocky lookout and make for that, passing an apparent short cut path on our left. Upon the lookout we can see the whole length of one of the lakes, I turn my gaze away for behind us somewhere is the fort, but to my horror it seems to be amid the densest thickest woods you've ever seen, I wonder if a picture of trees is all we'll get. Leaving the lookout we head for footbridge number two, more dragon flies than you can shake a bee hive at, god I love'em, fantastic little creatures, unchanged since forever. Then more light and airy wooded paths to the last of the bridges, at this point we break away from the path and trek off in the direction of the Devils Quoit. It wasn't easy to find, but we did in the end, now it's time to go and have a look at the fort if we can.

Back across two bridges, all the time looking for more Otters we reach the lookout point and see once again the apparent short cut path, we take it, I ask Eric to keep an eye out for any paths going off to the right, what like this one he says, ummm yes like that one.
A neatly trimmed grassy path worms its way through impenetrable undergrowth, and I begin to think we might get to it after all. At a right angle in the path is an information board with an artists impression of the fort, a woad painted man and a clothes pin on it. Gold dust.
Ten meters on and my gaze inexplicably turns to my feet in time to see something else wonderful, a little baby toad, we pick him up and take a photo, I don't know how many toads you've seen but this is only my third, I want to see him good. Less than a minute later and were at the fort. Despite all the people, we obviously have the fort to our selves, they all like the ponds and the beach, no time for history nowadays.
The fort is still a bit overgrown, the grassy path passes straight through the fort, ending with a gate into a field, right by the two ramparts, the outer one is still very big, maybe ten feet high, the inner one is lower but still six feet tall at least. There are banks at the sides of the fort too but its too overgrown to get a good look. In the winter or after a good clean up and the fort would look really good. But as ever and here particularly it's the surroundings that blow you away.

we slowly make our way back to the main path Eric is looking for the Toadlet again and I tell him it's well gone by now, just as it hops into the grass right before us, Huh, nature hey, it knows nowt.
On the last bridge the Heron is much closer, hunting again, it doesn't seem to mind all the folk looking on, and we get a really good zoom picture of it, I wish I could show you but this is a History place not nature. Then it's back up the stairs and back to the car park. The information board asks us to watch out for Otters as they sometimes come out to hunt in the day light. No shit.
We were more than two hours almost three and a half , but the nice lady doesn't say nowt and were soon gone. Gone to St Govans chapel and well. It's so close it would be a crime not to go see it.

This was a superb place, one of Wales lesser known gems, and possibly the most beautiful place in the whole country, and I've seen quite a bit of it.